SC FLAGS DOWRY'S DEEP ROOTS, SEEKS COLLECTIVE REFORM

In a significant judgement in Ajmal Beg (2025), the Supreme Court recently overturned the Allahabad High Court's acquittal in a 24-year-old dowry death case.

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It restored the trial court's conviction, sentencing the husband to life imprisonment. The case involved the 2000 death of a young woman, burnt alive within a year of marriage for unmet dowry demands, for which the trial court had convicted the husband and his mother before the HC set aside the verdict, citing prosecution flaws. The SC noted that the social evil of dowry had persisted in Indian society despite being illegal and issued directions to educate the people and authorities against the practice. It asked the high courts to review the many pending cases at the earliest.